Ryan's Hope
The Soap Opera Book, 1978

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Ryan's Hope (now almost two years old) is said by those in the television industry to be the most ambitious of the newer soaps. It may also be the happiest soap. The show is written and produced by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, who formerly wrote for Love of Life. Like All My Children and The Young and the Restless, Ryan's Hope attracts a young audience. In fact, when the show first came out, the Nielsen's went up and down, sometimes by as much as 7 points, depending on whether the kids were in or out of school. Part of this appeal may come from the show's newcomer status; this is a soap nobody's parents watched. Equally important is the ambience and attitude conveyed.

As the title suggests, this is supposed to be an optimistic show. Claire Labine likes to say that it is "the opposite of defeatism." There is a belief that characters can cope; that the human condition should be celebrated rather than merely endured. The mood is established by the theme music and logo; we see a young version of Mother and "Da" Ryan dance joyfully with an infant son, holding him to heaven at the end.

Ryan's Hope is a home-and-family show and to some extent a doctor-lawyer show. But it differs from others in that it is set in an identifiable place. It's New York City—the place referred to with such horror on the other shows. Since this is New York, and not Oakdale or Rosehill, people of different ethnic backgrounds can be realistically portrayed. The Ryans are not Unspecified Protestants, as are their many counterparts. They are Irish Catholics who frequently refer to their Church, their beliefs, and their traditions. They operate an Irish pub (called "Ryans") in which one has to make excuses for ordering English mustard. Characters from outside the family are also drawn and developed with attention to ethnic background. There are Italian-Americans who call each other "paisano" and attend the Gennaro Social Club. And when an Assistant District Attorney appears, he is identifiably Jewish. Other shows will occasionally throw in an ethnic-sounding name (usually Italian), but Ryan's Hope is unique in its use of ethnicity to explain character and behavior.

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This is a show in which there is much happy romanticizing about family life. Maeve Ryan is the archetypical mother: warm, supportive, wise, and humorous. "There are some women who can't have too many children," says one character in recognition of her motherly interest in virtually all who set foot in "Ryans." Other members of the family partake of her strength. The Ryans believe in themselves and say so often. Characteristic of the show are two-person scenes in which family trust is exchanged. Upon important occasions, characters say things like, "I want to thank you for a lifetime of love and understanding," or "You're a Ryan and the Ryans are proud of you and are behind you always." Particularly strong are the mother-daughter scenes between Maeve and Mary. (Most of these are written by Claire Labine, who volunteers that she has a very good relationship with her mother.) Characters who do not have families, or are missing a parent, tend to be confused or evil. Everyone understands this. For example, whenever Jack Fenelli so much as frowns, characters begin harping on his lack of family.

In order to put across this romantic sense of family, Labine and Mayer have created a whole mythology of the old Ryans in Ireland, and younger Ryans in childhood. Hardly a day goes by without Mary or Frank relating some long and charming anecdote from childhood—or without Maeve and Johnny describing the wedding party, the potato stews, and the first hard, happy years. Babies and children—mothering and fathering—are shown to be the greatest source of joy. Whole situations (and even arguments) are constructed to reveal the need for family continuity. Some viewers find this soap "preachy," or at least heavy-handed in its family values; others find the Ryans and their familial intensity deeply satisfying.

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Storylines are smart, strong, and rather less predictable than those on other soaps. Lost parent fantasies and amnesia are avoided—but divorce, accidents, unplanned pregnancies and unresolvable romantic triangles are always going around. The difference is that here, amidst all the problems, is humor. The Ryans have their troubles, but they also have their fun—rowdy, noisy fun, full of good- natured and bad-natured kidding. Family holiday scenes are staged with a skill that any dramatist would admire; they manage to show a large family enjoying itself, while one or two characters in its midst reach the height of a personal crisis. Love scenes manage to be intimate and playful (something often achieved in life, but seldom, it seems, on the soaps).

How successful Ryan's Hope will be is not yet clear. Stars like Nancy Addison (Jill Coleridge), Kate Mulgrew (Mary Ryan), John Gabriel (Seneca Beaulac), and Ilene Kristen (Delia Ryan) have already attracted large fan followings. Nielsen ratings are only a point or two below those of All My Children, which now follows Ryan's Hope on most line-ups. As Labine and Mayer like to point out, that's higher than the first year ratings for The Young and the Restless.

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